I am seriously considering jumping into this business of being a reseller for a web hosting company but I'd like to know if anyone here has/is running a profitable business. By that I mean making more than $1000 USD per month. Also is this industry like that of porn sites.. e.g. every 1000 visitor impression = 2 customers. I've got website getting huge traffic. Hopefully it means dollars $$$

Thanks!

Well I don't necessarily agree with your reasonings people tend to call me weird anyhow. I got into the hosting business because of three things, one I appear to be fairly good at sales, two I like dealing with and helping people, three I love computers. So put them togther and you've got yourself a hosting company :).

Starting out you'll never make a ton of money, espically reselling unless you find a really good deal.

Your main goal should be starting out as a reseller to build your name up so that when you move to a dedicated server you can support your dedicated boxes bills and then profits will increase :).

It can take anywhere from 3 months to a year to get a good flow of customers you've just got to know how to do it right :).



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Sincerely~
Daniel Pearson
UltraSpeed USA
http://www.ultraspeedusa.com
AIM: UltraSpeedUSA
ICQ: 7021831
Email: dpearson@ultraspeedusa.com
Phone: 1-205-785-1872

Yes it is possible, but you should start as a reseller first then move up just as DanielP stated. $1000mo is very easy to achieve if your good at it! In fact $5000 isn't hard either!

I'm a newbie to this whole hosting thing. I'm hoping to get answers to one key issue, What works for you in getting clients?

DanialP says, "It can take anywhere from 3 months to a year to get a good flow of customers you've just got to know how to do it right"

Some pointers would be great. My rep at Alabanza says that word of mouth doesn't work and that the real way to go is banner ads on hosting directories will reap a good amount of traffic.

Please, any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

I disagree. I got a client yesterday by word of mouth. I think that word of mouth is the best way. I mean after all, look at these forums. People come here to ask about a particular host, then someone recommends a different company.

Some companies, FutureQuest, never advertise and still they get clients, so advertising isn't the end all be all way to get clients.

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Mike Astin
WebAuthorities
http://www.webauthorities.com
http://www.resellerinfo.com - A free reseller information site (coming soon!)

Word of Mouth advertising is quite powerful. And as the internet becomes more and more popular/useful with each passing day, more people will be getting onto the Net.

So, for the near future, it would be extremely beneficial to provide quality web hosting services at decent rates and offer quality support additionally as well.

A satisfied client may recommend you to two/three of his friends. If each in turn is also satisfied, they will recommend you further on... soon, within a few months or years you will have a good number of clients from WORD OF MOUTH advertising alone.

Remember, word of mouth advertising can hit both ways... it can be beneficial or detrimental to your business... depending on either a high or low amount of customer satisfaction you achieve.

I also agree that advertising with banner ads on other sites or directories helps, because such ads are mostly seen at places or times when potential clients access such sites on the internet.

The new technology allows banner advertising to become more and more accurately targeted. This will also go a long way in benefiting advertisers.

But effective banner advertising doesn't come cheap. Similarly, word of mouth advertising doesn't come cheap. The former you pay in cash, the latter you pay in kind !!!

Learner

A bit of both helps. Advertising to at least get your name out there never hurts. Then when someone mentions your name, it is something they recognize, not something they just heard for the first time.

I try not to talk too much about my past hosts, since most of it has already been said, but do hope that some people have checked out tera-byte as I am truly happy there, and am finally glad to be happy.

Originally posted by Chicken
I am truly happy there, and am finally glad to be happy.

Im tellin ya! I finally am happy where I am to 3 cheers for good hosts! *G*

Hey,

Our entire hosting business runs on word of mouth. We do not advertise (at least have not done in last 10 months) but are getting the same flow of clients, in fact more :)

I am quite happy with it.

A bit off topic, One of my friend has a website on jokes etc and it grew from nil to a million page views in just 3-4 months without spending a penny on advertising :)

*Dont underestimate the power of your vocal chord* ;)

Word of mouth advertising as helped my company very well. We have never used banner advertising. Up to this point, we have tried to be listed in the major host directories. Our business has grown at a decent rate and we are looking at possibly advertising on the radio soon.

I know it has been said many times in this thread, do not underestimate the power of word of mouth! It can take your business very far or it can destroy your business.

Best regards,
Frank Rietta